Former West Ham director of football Mario Husillos (Image: Malaga CF)

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The enigmatic Mario Husillos has left West Ham as director of football without any fanfare at all, much like his 18-month stay as Manuel Pellegrini's right hand man at board level.

The two South Americans worked together at Malaga when Pellegrini transformed the small Spanish club into Champions League quarter finalists, losing in heartbreaking fashion to a Jurgen Klopp-managed Borussia Dortmund.

When he agreed to join West Ham in the summer of 2018, Pellegrini had a few requests but one was bigger than most - that Husillos joined him. It was agreed and Husillos became West Ham's first, official at least, director of football.

It was a move that supporters had been crying out for, taking transfer decisions out of co-owner David Sullivan's hands and handing it over to someone who was well versed.

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But in theory, the Hammers did it the wrong way around. A director of football normally appoints a manager to align with their ideas of where the team goes forward, not a manager demanding a director of football comes with him.

The fact that Husillos left because Pellegrini was sacked as manager last weekend says a lot as to how the relationship between Husillos and the club went. When his departure was announced, he was simply at the head of the list of "football staff" who had followed Pellegrini out - he got the same treatment as fitness coaches Jose Cabello and Felix Cao for a farewell.

Former West Ham director of football Mario Husillos (Image: West Ham United)

While the move was supposed to take Sullivan away from transfers, that never happened. The Hammers co-owner is a control freak and wants to stay in charge of the transfer strategy but he was supposed to allow Pellegrini and Husillos to work their magic - he didn't.

In the first summer, Lucas Perez, Carlos Sanchez and Andriy Yarmolenko were the only true Husillos signings that he led the way on. Pellegrini solely wanted Felipe Anderson and he was delivered by Sullivan for a then club-record fee.

The co-owner was at the forefront for the deals for Ryan Fredericks, Issa Diop and Lukasz Fabianski, the latter with help from David Moyes. Pellegrini was the driver behind the deals for Jack Wilshere and Fabian Balbuena and Husillos did have a small say in them, but they were "Sullivan signings".

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In their second summer together in east London, Husillos was solely responsible for the signing of Albian Ajeti for £8m from Basel. He was also the man who wanted error-prone stopper Roberto Jimenez to potentially replace Fabianski, while both Husillos and Pellegrini masterminded the £25million capture of Pablo Fornals.

Eyebrows were raised earlier this summer, not least behind-closed-doors at the club, when Husillos travelled to China for the Premier League Asia Trophy tournament in pre-season with the club in desperate need of a new striker having sold Marko Arnautovic to Shanghai SIPG for £25million.

The West Ham team arrive at their hotel in Nanjing with Mario Husillos second on the right (Image: intao Zhang/Getty Images for Premier League)

It was left to Sullivan to conclude a deal for Sebastien Haller after a move for Uruguayan striker Maxi Gomez broke down. Husillos initially led that chase for Gomez but sources close to the deal have told football.london that Celta wouldn't budge on their valuation, which was more than the £45million spent on Haller from Eintracht Frankfurt. Husillos rightly walked away from the Gomez move.

The Argentine also wanted the Hammers to sign Real Sociedad midfielder William Jose last summer but Pellegrini wasn't so keen as he wanted Andre Gomes, who joined Everton instead. They did both agree that Fornals should be signed though and the Spaniard duly arrived for £25million.

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If truth be told, Sullivan has his fingerprints over all of the deals in the past 18 months, he is, after all, the one who cuts the cheques. He still had veto power over Husillos if he wanted to.

So what was the point in hiring a director of football in the first place? To simply appease Pellegrini?

Husillos was rarely seen in public. He attended games but his relationship with Sullivan was constantly fractious, the co-owner didn't trust the Argentine. Husillos didn't conduct a single interview with the media in 18 months, we only heard from him when a transfer was concluded in a press release.

It seemed a doomed relationship from the start. Sullivan simply can't let go of transfer strategy despite his own huge failings in the last decade of ownership. The Hammers have spent half a billion pounds on transfer fees in that time but less than £10million of that on goalkeepers and only £16m on full backs.

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The off-field structure at the club will always hold them back, whether it be Pellegrini or David Moyes in charge as manager. The scouting department is not extensive enough, Husillos appointed his own son as a senior scout and one of Pellegrini's sons as well. A former mate of his from Malaga, Juan Carlos Valdivia, was also employed as a scout.

The result is a squad that is terribly lop-sided and it is left to new boss Moyes to sort out the mess. But with Sullivan's interference, will he be allowed to?

Husillos will cop some flack in the aftermath of Pellegrini's departure but the fact is that things above the former director of football's head take a much bigger slice of the blame.

His departure has gone under the radar, which is how he operated. That shouldn't mask some of his failings, and he did have them, but they weren't all his fault.